I really liked this movie. Now before you gone to say that "oh this guy liked it, im not gonna read this post" go ahead and hear me out. Overall, if i have to be honest, this was a bad movie. I like it because i grew up watching it as a kid, and since i was born in 89 I missed mostly all of the He-Man era. But i still like this movie because as a kid you dont think about cheesy acting or bad plot, you just enjoy the fighting. I liked Star Wars, and this (technology wise) was like Star Wars. So i watched it everytime it was on TBS. I watched it a few years ago and i still love it, but for different reasons. Now, to the actual review.

The acting is abyssmal. Everyone sheds an uneven performace and attempts to make a one liner to make the audience laugh. Most of these one liners come off as retarded middle school calibur performances. The only exception is Frank Langella. The only real reason i watch the movie is because of Franks performance. I love villains more than the heroes (i guess i have some hidden anger), so i love watchin movies like Nightmare on Elm Street and others like that. Skeletor in my opinion should be ranked as one of the best cartoon-movie villain performances of all time. He brought depth to the character, and i feel hes the only real character who was able to be mirrored from the cartoon to the movie. The visuals were pure garbage except for the inside of Castle Greyskull. Not havin so many of the main characters didnt really bother me, since this is happening at the end of a war, and we can assume most of the heroes except for He-Man have been captured. A little mention of there names would have been nice though. The laser blasts are laughable. 1978 A New Hope looks more advanced special effects wise then MOTU did. The music was pretty good. The overall storyline wasnt to bad, but there was several things that could have been done to just make it much better. I felt that the story was choppy, if they could have made it flow more, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience. I personally think Frank Langellas performance outweighs all of this, and thats why i watch this movie about once a year. E-mail if you disagree with any of my opinions.

So this was Cannon's idea of a Blockbuster Franchise-starter. This movie was nearly incomprehensible to me as I never really watched the cartoons. Still the sets are impressive and it kind if works for the last 20 mins or so. Oh, and Skelletor is one of the best villains ever! Here's hoping they use him in the new movie.

Ok, I admit, I REALLY LIKE this movie, overall. Don't get me wrong, it had some major flaws. As one other fan noted, Dolph wasn't the actor that he would become. I didn't understand why (IF THEY MUST BE ON EARTH), no one called in the Army or the doggone National Guard or something. You mean, no one in suburbia noticed the army of mutants marching down the street?!? But this movie did have it's moments, and in my opinion the moment that makes this whole movie worthwhile is Skeletor's monologue right before the Eye of Enternity is opened. THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST "VILLAN POWER TRIP" ON FILM!!!!! Frank Langella sells this scene so well, that if there were an Eternia and he was obsessed with power, THIS is what he would be like. There are some movies on this website that I don't think should be here, but this one is ALMOST borderline decent. Great acting does that for me.

To be fair to Gary Goddard, Cannon/Golan-Globus were on the verge of bankruptcy when the film was being made, and consequently siphoned off a large chunk of the budget. He mentions on the commentary track he had to put up his own paycheck in order to film the ending of the film. Too bad the ending was so similar to Return of the Jedi's. A better/cheaper (for the effects team) version could have had He-Man strike a final sword blow at Skeletor. Skeletor could have used his Cosmic Key to deflect it, and as a result if the Key being split, he disappears into a burst of energy; similar to Saurod. This would have left his fate open for a sequel.

Plus, getting back to Goddard, he redeemed himself in the same year with Mattel by co-creating the fantastic Captain Power television series and interactive toys: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092329/

I was one of the few in 1994 to catch what might have been his true version of what the MOTU film was meant to be in the form of the animated series, Skeleton Warriors:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108928/

An immortal line from James Tolkan, principal of George McFly's high school.

My friend and I are both in our thirties and we will still quote that line on occasion. If only he could've cursed Skeletor's henchmen as slackers while unleashing a hail of pump-action buckshot in their direction!

This movie would've been so much better without Dolph. Why not just star Tolkan as Lubic? That would work.

Probably because Orko was annoying and nobody liked him. Hehe, just kidding. My guess it would've cost too much to do the flying special effects, and, unlike the Air Centurions, Orko would've been a major character in almost every scene, and they would've wound up going way over-budget. So they opted for an Orko-esque character in Gwildor, who is just as annoying.

Gary Goddard is out of touch and thin skinned. MOTU is here on this site because people like it for for what it's not. That being an A movie. We like B movies here and love the reviews. Seems to me that Andrew's review was not done out of malice but in fun and humor. Pointing out all those cheesy scenes we have all watched, loved and felt the same about and joked about at some point in our lives. B movie fans have that strong of a bond over such things. No matter what their job is or type of person they would classify themselves as. Silly and immature to many. It's a harmless recreation many of us will never give up. Seems to me Gary should consider another line of work since he's so sensitive. I think there's an opening for a mime in Hollywood.

I just watched this again for the first time in years last night with two of my friends (one who'd never seen it before). I can't believe this flick was as much a part of my childhood as it was. The one thing I can't stop thinking about is how obviously the filmmakers desperately wanted this to be "the next Star Wars" or something. Epic fail!

Logged

"On a mountain of skulls in a castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood. What was will be, what is will be no more. Now is the season of evil." - Vigo (former Carpathian warlord and one-time Slayer lyric-writer)

This movie is great, I mean the coming to earth concept is now over used but when I was kid and saw this I LOVED IT!! I was a fan ofthe toys and cartoon sjow since 84 so by 87 I wasstill excited for the film and enjoyed it^_^

Nerds and geeks with no lives are hard on the film becuz they are jaded and lonley and feel worthless in their exsitance

I ate a bag of mushrooms with a friend and watched this movie and it blew my f**king mind! Seriously. Awesome movie!! Amazing effects! I just watched tomb raider, now that is a s**tty movie. Pathetic how movie effects in the 80s look a hell of a lot better than all this cgi crap.